(WASHINGTON) — Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker on Wednesday denied an unnamed woman’s new claim that in Dallas in 1993 he paid for and strongly encouraged her to have an abortion that she did not want.
The woman, only identified as Jane Doe, made her accusation at a video news conference hosted from Los Angeles by her attorney, Gloria Allred. The woman was not shown on camera and said that she feared reprisal if she revealed her true name or her face.
In a statement issued later Wednesday, Walker said, “I’m done with this foolishness. This is all a lie, and I will not entertain any of it.”
“I also did not kill JFK. This is pitiful,” he added. “The media should not be so foolish as to think I will spend any time talking about these lies.”
That statement echoed one he gave earlier Wednesday, shortly before the woman’s news conference. A reporter asked him then if he wanted to “unequivocally deny” paying any women for abortions, but he did not answer.
Walker previously denied an ex-girlfriend’s claim to various news outlets that he paid for her to have an abortion in 2009. That woman told The Daily Beast that she had documents supporting her allegation: a receipt from an abortion clinic, a bank deposit receipt with an image of a $700 check that she said was signed by Walker sent within a week of the abortion and also a “get well” card that she said was signed by Walker.
ABC News has not independently confirmed either woman’s claim.
Walker is running against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock as staunchly anti-abortion rights.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has been campaigning with Walker, also issued a statement on Wednesday supporting him and labeling Allred, the woman’s attorney, an “activist” and a Democrat.
Graham and Walker suggested the new allegation was a coordinated political attack to upend a race that has also focused on public safety and the economy as well as abortion rights.
Leading Republicans including former President Donald Trump have rallied around Walker, citing his denials.
“Democrats will say and do anything to hang on to power. Well, I’m Herschel Walker, and they picked the wrong Georgian to mess with. I’m not backing down the stakes are too high,” Walker said in his statement.
The new woman’s allegations
The unnamed woman who spoke at the video news conference with Allred said that in April 1993, she became pregnant after having been intimate with Walker.
“After discussing the pregnancy with Herschel several times, he encouraged me to have an abortion and gave me the money to do so,” the woman claimed.
She said she then went for the procedure in Dallas but did not go through with it. She said Walker allegedly pressured her, though, and ultimately drove her back to the abortion clinic the next day and waited outside until it was done, then drove her to a pharmacy for medication.
The woman did not provide any documentation in support of her alleged abortion.
Warnock’s response to Walker abortion claim
In a statement on Wednesday, Warnock’s deputy campaign manager, Rachel Petri, said that “we know Herschel Walker has a problem with the truth, a problem answering questions, and a problem taking responsibility for his actions.”
“Today’s new report is just the latest example of a troubling pattern we have seen play out again and again and again. Herschel Walker shouldn’t be representing Georgians in the U.S. Senate,” Petri said.
Earlier this month, Warnock commented on the first woman’s abortion claim against Walker.
He said then, at a campaign event, that “what we’re hearing about my opponent is disturbing. I think the people of Georgia have a real choice about who they think is ready to represent them in the United States Senate.”
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